Harry Ainlay Titans carry unbeaten streak into high school football provincial playoffs

The Harry Ainlay Titans are seen during an Alberta Tier 1 regional final versus the Bellerose Bulldogs at Clarke Stadium in Edmonton, Alberta on Saturday, November 18, 2017. The Titans will begin defence of their Tier 1 Provincial title Friday against the Salisbury Sabres.Ian Kucerak / Postmedia

It turns out there will be a playoff game at Commonwealth Stadium ahead of the 2018 Grey Cup final, after all. No, the Edmonton Eskimos haven’t somehow been granted a second crossover spot that would magically put them in the Canadian Football League playoffs that are set to kick off this weekend. Instead, their home field will play host to a double whammy of a game to open the 2018 Alberta Schools Athletic Association provincial football playoffs on Friday at 7:30 p.m. The No. 1-ranked Harry Ainlay high school Titans take on the sixth-ranked Salisbury Composite high school Sabres in a Tier 1 Northern semifinal round that doubles as the Metro Edmonton Div. 1 championship. “Because we had an uneven schedule, we had to push everything back a week, which kind of made this into a quarter-final for provincials and also the city finals,” said Sabres head coach Cam Fraser, whose preparations for their biggest game of the season were thrown out of whack this week, as explosions shocked the community of Sherwood Park and locked down schools in the area. “So it’s double the importance, definitely, because the winner goes on and the loser goes home, so we’re going to have to be ready for that. “I know it’s something that the players and coaches and everybody in our organization kind of circled as a goal for us to get to this game, and to play in Commonwealth Stadium was a big deal for the kids and we’re really looking forward to it.” If it hasn’t been a big enough hill for the Sabres to climb this week, they certainly need no reminder they’re facing the reigning provincial and league champions in the Titans, with the winner moving on to the regional final against either Red Deer’s Lindsay Thurber Comprehensive high school or Grande Prairie high school. “We’re looking at it like to get to provincials, you have to win city’s this year for Edmonton,” Fraser said. “We just happen to be playing, arguably, the best high school football team in Canada right now. They haven’t lost a game in almost a year and a half.” Their only previous meeting of the season was the lone game where either side didn’t end up with a blowout victory. “They beat us in the regular season. They finished first, undefeated, 6-0, and we were 5-1 with our only loss coming to them,” said Fraser, whose squad took a 10-9 lead into the fourth quarter before Harry Ainlay pulled away with 17 unanswered points. “It was basically a nine-point game until the final minute of the game and then they scored late, but it was a tight game in tough conditions for both teams. “We were playing winter football in the middle of October. That’s kind of what we get in Alberta sometimes. You can definitely tell Edmonton is hosting a Grey Cup because it’s usually minus-100 degrees.” While no snow is in the forecast for Friday, a nighttime temperature of minus-6 C will seem balmy by comparison to their last game. “We played them on a really snowy, windy night. It was almost blizzard conditions and it was a factor that both teams had to deal with,” said Titans head coach Brock Ralph, recalling a temperature of minus-20 C in last year’s city championships against the Bellerose Composite high school Bulldogs. “So anything from zero to minus-5 would be just great. We like to throw it a bit.” With some key pieces back from last year, the Titans came into this one with one goal in mind: Repeating as champions. “This year’s been a good year, we’ve been happy with the kids and how engaged they’ve stayed and we feel like we’ve treated every week as an opportunity to get better,” said Ralph, who kicked things off with tough pre-season tilts against Saskatchewan powerhouse Dr. Martin LeBoldus high school and the No. 2-ranked Notre Dame Pride out of Calgary. “We got some good tests early. This team’s done a lot of growing since the start of the year. “We’ve got some good focus and continue to critique ourselves and always look to get better. We’re lucky, we’ve got good kids.” And this week, his players will take to the same field the former CFL receiver called home while wearing the Green and Gold for four seasons of his nine-year career. “It’s very exciting for them,” Ralph said. “They’ll get up for the opportunity.” PLAYOFF PICTURE: Grande Prairie and Lindsay Thurber square off Saturday at 1:30 p.m. in Red Deer’s Great Chief Park in the other Northern semi, while the Southern bracket features the St. Francis Browns against Lethbridge Collegiate Institute Rams, and the Henry Wisewood Warriors against Notre Dame. The Archbishop Jordan Scots host the St. Joseph Celtics at Sherwood Park’s Emerald Hills Stadium in Tier 2 semis Saturday at 2:30 p.m., while the Lloydminster Barons face the Austin O’Brien Crusaders at 1 p.m. at Clarke Park. Email: gmoddejonge@postmedia.comOn Twitter: @GerryModdejonge

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